Monday, March 29, 2010

Methinks Mary Jo isn't ready for the big leagues.

Ohio Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy will be happy to see March fade from view.

Just in the last week she's seen Cupcakegate.
Then there was the Ohio Supreme Court ruling she "abused her authority" in steering contracts to pro-Union shops while serving as Franklin County Commissioner.
And now the Columbus Dispatch calls her out for spending the most of any Ohio congressman on sending mailings out to constituents.
U.S. Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy is one of the most prolific members of Congress when it comes to spending money on mass communications with constituents, a report said today. Kilroy, a freshman Democrat from Columbus, was the seventh-biggest spender among members of Congress on so-called "franked" mail and other mass outreach in 2009, the Associated Press reported.

Kilroy spent $377,712 in 2009, her first year in office.

She was the only Ohio representative among the top 20.
The NRCC nails the situation well in this e-mail:
Nash reports on the fact that Kilroy continues to waste taxpayer dollars by spending record amounts on mail – a figure totaling $377,712 in one year. This follows recent reports by the Dispatch on the Ohio Supreme Court’s ruling that Kilroy “abused her authority” as a Franklin County Commissioner. She routinely “steer[ed] contracts to union shops, with scant regard for cost, quality and fairness,” a process that Kilroy “championed” and that wasted hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars. With the Ohio Supreme Court confirming that she “abused her authority” in office before, is there reason to believe she is exploiting congressional mail to raise her profile for political purposes? How much does she spend on each piece? Is there a way to be more cost-efficient? We already know she didn’t seek out the most cost-efficient way as a county commissioner….
It's an extremely fair question. Let's hope the fourth estate looks a little deeper into this situation.

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